May 24, 2001 – What can Eddie Murphy, Mike Myers, Cameron Diaz and John Lithgow do that you and I can't? Well . . . yeah, but, they can lend their voices to a perfectly silly movie called "Shrek," have lots of fun doing it, and, on top of all that, get paid for it.
And that, as they say, is show biz.
Based on William Steig's children's book, Shrek (Mike Myers) is an ugly but beguiling ogre who finds his dirty, and not at all beguiling, swamp home invaded by a bevy of fairy tale characters who have been kicked out of their home by the evil Lord Farquaad ( John Lithgow).
Somehow Shrek strikes a deal with Farquaad to rescue the beautiful Princess Fiona (Cameron Diaz) and bring her back to Farquaad. Ok, so far? Shrek is accompanied on his mission by a talking donkey (Eddie Murphy) who, as you may have guessed, gets all the good lines.
As cantankerous animated ogre movies go, this is said to be a winner, the annual "summer blockbuster." Why don't they say something else? Summer sizzler? No, that's even worse. (And I suppose nutbuster is out of the question.)
Produced by three others and Jeffrey Katzenberg with a wink, and some say a raspberry, toward Disney, who Katzenberg left on less than cordial terms, the movie is rated PG for mild language and some crude humor. It is directed by Andrew Adamson and Victoria Jenson, and is and hour and half long.
It is playing at Market Square East.
